Hijacking the Political Process -- Just for Fun!

Well, the Democrats passed their spending bill which will fund the Iraq war through August, 2008 — although, don’t bet there won’t be requests for more money.  Contemplate that as you wrestle with your Form 1040.  That’s where your money is going.

Also, despite his threats, don’t bet that Bush won’t sign the bill when it eventually arrives on his desk.  He may not like the timetable, but other than that he gets to escalate the war for most of the rest of his term, and there are loopholes which could keep it going indefinitely. For more details, see
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/30/201/

But let’s leave discussion of the unconscionable Democratic dereliction for another time. 

Just for fun — and I’m a firm believer in making politics fun — why not create a little political theater of our own?  The Democrats are clearly thinking it’s still business as usual.  How about throwing a wrench in the works?

Suppose we were all to register or re-register with another party, say, the Green Party, a party with an unambiguous anti-Iraq-War platform.  Most states allow you to change your registration.  In California you can change up to 15 days before the election.
Would the Democrats get the message if they suddenly discovered overnight they had lost 10% of their base?  Vanished.  Phffft! I bet we would get some articles of impeachment moving through committee realfast!

Of course, you could still vote for a Democrat later if you thought it was the prudent thing to do.  Or you could just change your registration back to Democrat, or whatever it was.  But imagine shaking things up like that! 

Watch the pollsters spin.  Watch the pundits sputter. Watch the politicians scramble.  It’s like voting in the 2008 election right now!

Right now, Democrats appear to be turning their backs on all the voters who turned out to  stop the war in Iraq.  But this re-registration strategy could spread like wildfire — if you do a little spreading of your own!  Send it to your own email lists.  Write about it on your blog.  Mention it in conversations. It’s a loophole, one of the few remaining avenues of personal political expression not compromised by money.  It’s a small loophole, but if we run enough of our disaffected Democratic friends through it it will definitely have an effect!

Re-registering is free, it only takes about 5 minutes, it’s satisfying, and it could turn out to be highly entertaining. Do it right now, while you’re thinking about it. California voters can go here, to fill out the form online:
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

For more information about this strategy, check out:
http://switch2green.org/

Seriously, we have to let both the Democrats and Republicans know that we have other choices.  (And not-voting is not a choice, since that has no effect on an election’s outcome.)  At some point, Democrats have to learn that they have to do more than just not be Republicans!  This strategy is a painless way to remind them that ultimately they serve at the pleasure of the public.  They seem to have forgotten.

Liam

P.S. I’m interested in knowing how many people re-register, so if you do so, please drop me a line.  Thanks.